


Soulmates Ever After

by NebulaWrites



Series: Soulmate Things [2]
Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Because some of them are happy, Chapters follow their respective chapters in the first set of drabbles, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, In which I fix things that I broke in the drabbles, M/M, More drabbles, Multi, Or just continue them, Others aren't though, Soulmates, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-04-06 16:29:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14060907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NebulaWrites/pseuds/NebulaWrites
Summary: Drabbles that either happen before or after the first set of Soulmate Drabbles. As it progresses and more chapters are added to the first more will be added to this one, and like the first the relationship and prompt will be in the notes!





	1. Tobirama/Orochimaru - Post

**Author's Note:**

> Senju Tobirama/Orochimaru
> 
> The one where your soulmate's ghost haunts you when they die

It wasn't often that he worried for Orochimaru now, but this was different.

Tobirama nearly snarls as he tries to find some way to become tangible – or at least make himself _seen_ – because there was no way Orochimaru would get through this fight without help. Something inside him was bitterly furious towards Tsunade and Jiraiya for leaving the village and therefore leaving Orochimaru. The pale Sannin narrowly ducks under a sweep of a naginata and the Nidaime curses in frustration.

This was just like the fight that end with Orochimaru in the hospital. But, the ruby-eyed male thinks, this time there's no back up. "Orochimaru," he snaps and can tell from the barely-there glance he gets that he had been heard. "I'm draining your chakra, I'll leave so long as you don't die because of this." The snake summoner narrows his eyes but nods regardless, and with a touch of will Tobirama allows himself to fade out.

He didn't expect to blink and suddenly be in the midst of a fight what seemed to be a heartbeat later, but a lifetime of being a shinobi has him instantly sweeping the battle with one glance and diving in to help the shinobi with Konoha's hitai-ate instead of questioning it. "What the-?" a man splutters, his eyes shooting wide and Tobirama easily recognizes his coloring was that of a Hatake.

"I do hope you can tell that I am on your side, Hatake,” he drawls, knocking the wind out of one Suna nin's lungs with a swift kick to the middle of the chest. Hatake blinks, shakes himself and nods once, charging forward with his tanto leading.

"Of course, Lord Nidaime, you just took me by surprise." Is what he says before leaping back and bodily shoving a kunoichi away from a large tree. Tobirama reflexively draws his sword as instincts scream at him and he's just in time to catch the edge of a halberd on his sword to save the Hatake from getting his skull cleaved in half. With a jerk and a twist, he flung the shinobi away and quirked a brow at the silver-haired man as he drags foliage in front of a hollow in the trunk. 

"Are you saying that you weren't expecting me to help?" Tobirama questions as a Yamanaka drops between them, eyes sparking with curiosity as she turns to Hatake - blood smeared across her and with a glance over his shoulder the Nidaime realizes she had finished off the two Suna nin.

"Sakumo how is the Nidaime here?"

Sakumo shrugs one shoulder as he picks up his tanto again, twirling it around his hand briefly as he met Tobirama's sharp gaze. "No, I know you would help if you were around. I wasn't you expecting to be though; especially considering Orochimaru is in chakra exhaustion. Asuka, get the message out to the others that either we finish this fight quickly or we retreat now. Orochimaru needs medical treatment as quickly as possible, or he’ll die."

Something wrenches in his heart and Tobirama immediately looks back at the covered hollow. "What do you mean by that?" he demands as the Yamanaka gives a lazy salute and charges off, her chakra spiking sharply to the point of Tobirama notices it immediately. Sakumo tips his head to the side before sighing and walking a few meters away from the tree, crouching readily as he calls over his shoulder.

"Orochimaru was meant to be back in the village hours ago, so we were sent to find him. When we found him in the fight, obviously we had to back him up and before any of us noticed he used a jutsu that sent him straight into chakra exhaustion."

"Edo Tensei," Tobirama mutters before he can help it as he considers himself for a brief, brief moment while moving to place himself about half way between Sakumo and the tree. "I assume that you placed him in the hollow?" this makes the Hatake wave over his shoulder in a sign of agreement and the Nidaime determinedly decides on staying close enough to protect Orochimaru. "I'll be in shouting range," he informs the other as he charges by. "Call for me if you need my help, though I don't think many will slip by me."

"I'll keep that in mind, Lord Nidaime." Sakumo reassures with a grin in his voice.

 

As soon as Orochimaru was awake, Tobirama was going to give him a lesson he'd better remember. He was leaning against the wall, watching the Sannin silently and he just hoped that Orochimaru actually _would_ wake. His soulmate had used far too much chakra; to the point the medics had been surprised that he was alive at all. Sighing, he pushes away from the wall to look out the window with a frown.

It has been hours since Orochimaru had used Edo Tensei to bring him back, hours since the fight had been won and Orochimaru had been brought to the hospital. Hiruzen had stopped by earlier, concerned for his student's well-being in a way that he hadn't shown since Jiraiya left – if Tobirama had pointed that out in a way harsher than it should've been, one couldn't quite blame him. Everyone else that came by so far had simply done so in order to look at Tobirama rather than for worry about the Sannin.

"Hey," Sakumo's voice startles the Nidaime into leaning out of the open window, the man grins as he stops just in front of said window. "Has he woken up yet?"

"No," Tobirama confesses, looking at the boy standing next to Sakumo. "Aside from Hiruzen, you are the only one to ask about him." The boy's nose scrunches up slightly, and the pale Senju finally recognizes him from that expression alone. When Kakashi would stop by Orochimaru's he never had a scarf, so he doesn't feel too annoyed for not recognizing him at first.

Kakashi looks up at Tobirama with narrowed eyes, clearly assessing him before he huffs, "How?"

Immediately the two men exchange confused looks, and Tobirama slowly echoes the child quite dubious as to what he meant and hoping for an explanation.

He doesn’t really get one.

 

Orochimaru was sprawled out on the bed, face first into the comforter and Tobirama snorts as he slips into the room. "You can't really blame him." He points out and in response the Sannin groaned loudly in complaint – a sound only Tobirama ever really gets to hear since Orochimaru was too prideful to do it around anyone else. "You spent two weeks unconscious in the hospital from chakra exhaustion and then you spent another three weeks recovering." The snake summoner sits up to look at the Nidaime.

"That doesn't mean that Sarutobi-sensei has to have ANBU staked out around my house. It also doesn't mean he has to keep me off the front lines, do you realize-?" Orochimaru stops talking with a scowl as Tobirama tuts at him, the Senju walks over and sits on the edge of his soulmate's bed to intertwine their fingers. For a long moment they just stare at each other, not speaking and not moving until Tobirama smiles.

"I think that's more because of me than Hiruzen's overprotective tendencies." He admits and it makes the smaller man roll his eyes in amusement before he topples forward again, mumbling something that sounds like "That could be it". The ruby-eyed male rubs his thumb over the back of Orochimaru's hand before continuing, "Either way the circumstances are different now, wouldn't you agree?"

This gets him a kick to the hip – extremely light compared to what Tobirama knows Orochimaru can do – and he squeezes the snake summoner's hand, rolling his eyes hard enough it _hurt_. "I didn't mean to do that, and you know it." Orochimaru grumbles, sliding off the bed before yelping as Tobirama locks an arm around his waist and drags him into his lap. "Really?"

"You have a tendency to run before I can ever respond whenever this comes up, Orochimaru, it's by far the time for you to listen."

Orochimaru huffs, crosses his arms over his chest and meets his gaze evenly – for all the world looking like a pissy cat. "I don't _mind_ that this happened," Tobirama murmurs, tipping his head to the side and smiling at his soulmate once more. "I don't mind that we haven't been able to come to a conclusion about how you did it. I should honestly be more irate that you learnt Edo Tensei in the first place, but I will admit that I'm proud you were capable of using one of my jutsu. If the ANBU are bothering you so much, I'll-."

"Orochimaru! Get out here right now!"

The Nidaime narrows his eyes at the voice, unknowingly tightening his hold around Orochimaru's waist even as the door to Orochimaru's home slams open. Sighing, the Sannin brushes his fingers over the red marking on Tobirama's cheek before he squirms free to stand. "Thank you," he murmurs before all but darting out of the room as that voice rises again in anger, with a low groan and a brief moment to gather himself he follows after his soulmate to calm the likely furious Tsunade.


	2. Naruto/Orochimaru - Post

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uzumaki Naruto/Orochimaru
> 
> The one where only your soulmate can kill you

"Can't you do _anything_?" Neji demands, his hands still pressed firmly to the weeping wound in Naruto's chest as Naruto struggles to stay conscious. Sakura looks like she's about to keel over herself, her body shaking as Sasuke and Sai support her between them, Naruto would never be able to bring himself to force her to do anything when she was so clearly low on chakra.

"We don't know where Tsunade is, or any other medic for that matter. Sakura will kill herself if she uses any more chakra, so there's not much we can do!" snaps Kakashi - sharp and highly annoyed - as he cautiously moves Neji's hands to press his shirt against the wound. "My medical ninjutsu isn't anywhere strong enough to close this, we're lucky I even managed to stop most of the bleeding with it." Naruto looks up at his sensei, forcing himself to smile and he would laugh at the face that gets in response if it wouldn't have hurt so much. Whining from where he was supporting Naruto's upper body, Akamaru nudges the blond's arm with his nose until Kiba and Shikamaru drop into the clearing - both grim faced and exhausted.

Kiba - naturally - drops between Neji and Akamaru, placing one hand on his ninken's head and the other on his husband's shoulder as he looks between the current and previous Hokage. Shikamaru waves his hand slightly, rubbing his eyes as he slumps down on a fallen log and grimacing as Temari moves to his side. "It's not safe to move," Kiba announces flatly, the downwards curve of his lips just emphasizing the worried tone in his voice as he looks down at Naruto. "There's still too many-. Naruto, stay with us." Jumping as Kiba's hand clamps on his shoulder hard enough to bruise, Naruto blinks rapidly before wheezing out a very painful laugh.

"Not sure I can guarantee that," he croaks even as a horrified noise comes from the group of huddled genin a few feet to his left. Shikadai and Isamu move closer just enough for it to be noticeable before stopping as Kakashi shoots them a stern glare, Eri nearly whimpers as she looks at Naruto with teary eyes. Sarada makes a furious noise that she most definitely learned from her mother and she levels a stern finger at the blond.

"Don't die on us, Naruto-sensei, we're so close to winning!"

Naruto drops his head back against Akamaru's flank, closing his eyes and willing the world to stop spinning even as Shikamaru and Kakashi start trying to form a plan.

 

"Naruto,"

That voice is familiar, Naruto thinks vaguely - keeping his eyes shut to enjoy the warm sunlight.

"Naruto, open your eyes." the voice comes again, firmer this time and he slowly does as he is bidden blinking to let his eyes adjust to the bright afternoon sun. Something in the back of his mind tells him this is wrong, this isn't what he'd seen just seconds ago, but a face is grinning down at him and his heart trips into double-time. He shoots upright, hands already grabbing and Kushina gives a bright laugh as she takes his hands and allows him to drag her down with Minato smiling as he walks over. Naruto all but crushes his mother in his arms, laughter bubbling from his lips as he shoots to his feet - dragging Kushina with him though she doesn't seem to mind - in a perfect opportunity to snag his father in the hug as well.

Both of his parents murmur soft welcomes and happy greetings as two sets of soft footsteps approach from the same direction Minato had come. Naruto spares a glance up to blink at the two people there - a man and a woman, both surprisingly pretty and looking happy to see him. Kushina is the one to break the hug, stepping to the side to wave a hand at him and saying, "This is Naruto, Slinky never really gave you a face to the name, did he?" The woman giggles, nodding as the man moves to stand beside Minato while she takes Naruto's hands in hers with a perfectly warm whisper of gratitude.

"Um," he hesitates just long enough to glance between the four. "What are you thanking me for?"

This gets them all to laugh and Minato pats Naruto's shoulder - reassuring that he would understand soon - as the unnamed man and woman share a glance before smiling and offering a wave of farewell as they meandered away hand-in-hand. As the pair are just barely out of earshot he turns to his parents with a tilt of his head, mind already producing a million questions though he knew he could only speak so quickly, that being said the first thing out of his mouth is, "Who brought you guys back?"

 

Dying had been… unexpected. Unexpected, unpleasant and the child in him insisted it was a little unfair. He had just found his soulmate - through the most common way of finding them which of course was being _killed_ by his soulmate - and then woken in a clearing to find familiar faces long lost to him. Time was blurred here is one of the many things Orochimaru had been able to figure out about this place, and so he couldn't exactly tell how long he has been dead. Mere hours or decades and he had yet to find a way to tell for sure even if he had been given a rough answer when he had joined in to meet Jiraiya.

"Anko had corrupted her," Jiraiya whines and Orochimaru was already seriously contemplating if he could kill the toad sage even if they were already both dead. "She could've chosen slugs like her mother or taken after me and gone for toads, but Anko convinced her to choose a contract with your _snakes_!"

Dragging his gaze down from the clouds, Orochimaru raises an eyebrow at his teammate. "Are you saying my snakes are a bad choice in contract?" he says in a perfectly disinterested tone and forces down his vicious grin of victory when Jiraiya shrinks away, trying to offer up some excuse or reasoning that the older Sannin decides not to listen to and instead returns to his cloud watching. An explosion makes the ground shudder and in the distance he can hear someone shouting - likely Obito trying to placate his hot-headed soulmate - even as a laugh sounds from somewhere closer - awkward and wary. "No Deidara isn't going to waste his time coming all the way over here in an attempt to blow you up, Jiraiya." Orochimaru sighs because there hasn't been a single time so far that Jiraiya hasn't come to him in fear of Deidara's volatile temper and tendency to take his anger out on the perverted Sannin.

"Okay for once that isn't what I was going to say," Jiraiya sounds genuinely offended and the snake summoner simply rolls his eyes, but doesn't do anything else as someone approaches. "Well, kid, it's been a month or two if I'm not mistaken."

That definitely gets his attention enough to drop his gaze, eyes blowing wide as the white-haired man catches a significantly smaller blond in a hug. There's a huff - choked but amused - and Orochimaru stares back as Naruto switches his attention to him, they stay like that even as Kushina ushers Minato and Jiraiya away. It's Naruto who breaks it by walking to Orochimaru's side and sitting next to him on the grass, tipping his head back to stare at the sky, asking, "Cloud watching?"

Instead of speaking, the dark-haired shinobi makes a noise of agreement as he follows the blond's example - and he definitely doesn't glance at Naruto a few times out of the corner of his eye - leaning back against his arms faintly. Orochimaru hasn't had a silence fall so comfortably in a very long time, but it doesn't last long as the other man leans to the side enough to tap their shoulders together. "Yes?" he ventures when nothing else follows and blue-eyes are turned on him, so warm it takes him completely off-guard.

"Twenty years kinda made me forget how pretty you were," Naruto says, laying his hand atop of Orochimaru's and giving it a light squeeze. "My memory really didn't do you any justice, y'know?"

Orochimaru was used to getting compliments - usually they were biting and weren't meant seriously, but he took them as they were out of spite - but these were different in the way that Naruto truly meant them and it was... nice. "Twenty years?" echoes the snake and Naruto nods, falling backwards to lie on the grass, stretching his arms over his head and Orochimaru can hear his back pop.

"Yeah, all it took for me to get back to ya was twenty years, an outbreak of Zetsu clones, a mini-war and my body more or less failing on me."

"Ah," he frowns a little before lying back as well, determinedly keeping his gaze upwards. "Let's not talk about that now."

Let's just enjoy this moment is what he doesn't say, but it's what Naruto seems to understand regardless as he loops his arm underneath the Sannin's neck and around his shoulders.


	3. Kisame/Orochimaru - Post

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoshigaki Kisame/Orochimaru
> 
> The one where anything written on your skin appears on your soulmate's skin as well

Konoha wasn't _too_ bad. That is if it were being compared to Kiri, and Kisame was doing exactly that even as he watched Orochimaru scowl blankly at the redheaded woman clinging to his arm. "You treat sensei right, you hear me? I'll mess you up properly if you hurt him, y’know!" she snarled, waving a kunai at Kisame threateningly before pouting as Orochimaru snatches it out of her hand.

"Kushina _enough_ ," hisses the Sannin as he shakes his arm free, fierce golden eyes narrowing into threatening slits before rolling in exasperation when an offended squawk erupts from nowhere. The Hoshigaki turns in time to see a violet-haired blur streak by and ram into Orochimaru, a little girl – most likely a genin – looks up at Orochimaru with wide, wounded eyes and a hurt voice quivers as she speaks.

"How could you, sensei, you said you wouldn't help Kushina with her training anymore now that you've got me!"

Laughing at his soulmate's expression of utterly aggravated defeat, the swordsman pushes up from his seat to pull Orochimaru out from between the two kunoichi and lets the snake step behind him for shelter. "Who are _you_?" the girl demands, rounding on the shark-like man and standing her ground even as he grins at her – all teeth but no warning. "Sensei, you said you would help teach me more poisons, why are you hiding-?"

"That's sensei's soulmate, Anko, how could you have not heard? Pretty boy fainted when he heard about it." Kushina cuts in, grabbing Anko's shoulders with a bloodthirsty grin, adding, "I could teach her a few things you taught me, sensei, if you want to spend some time with Blueberry."

This gets a cackle from Anko, and a dubious blink from Kisame as Orochimaru sighs heavily. "In other words, you're going to teach her even if I say otherwise. I'll make extra batches of antidote for the collateral damage, now get out of here." the Sannin orders, stepping out from behind Kisame as his two students grin at each other – running off without looking back.

"Blueberry?" Kisame asks in confusion and Orochimaru gives him a pitying glance.

"Kushina finds ridiculous things to call people. She calls me 'Slinky' most of the time if it helps?"

It does – just enough – and the Hoshigaki snorts, returning to his task of carefully wiping down Samehada. The two of them had been in the middle of a conversation about swords when Kushina had arrived, but for the life of him, Kisame couldn't remember where they had been. "I apologize about my students, Mikoto is the only one who isn't as rambunctious as Kushina and Anko." Orochimaru borderline groaned sliding back into his seat with was seemed to be a great deal of relief. Kisame grins at his soulmate in response, reassuring that it was fine before their conversation switched back to their previous one until the sun began to set.

"Do you not need to head back to Kiri?" the snake summoner asked suddenly, sounding concerned. "I would think the Mizukage would like to know where her top Jounin is."

Did he _seriously_ forget to mention it? Kisame looks up, his hands freezing in the middle of wrapping Samehada up again. "The Mizukage and Hokage agreed to allow me to be a shinobi for both Konoha and Kiri," he says, and Orochimaru blinks in surprise. "I need to spend a maximum of half a year in Konoha before heading back to Kiri." 

"So, do you have a place to stay in Konoha?"

"Not quite…" he'd gotten distracted with talking with Orochimaru, meaning he had completely forgotten about finding a place to stay. He didn't think it mattered too much yet; a cheap hotel room would be fi-

"I have a spare room if you'd like." Orochimaru offers, entirely catching Kisame off guard – because even after a bare minimum of three months he knew how sacred Orochimaru's home was to him. The swordsman blinks, looking at his soulmate curiously, and the Sannin tellingly doesn't look at him, though he can still see the color tingeing high cheekbones. Chuckling softly at the other's blush, the shark-like nin accepts the offer with a hum – if Orochimaru made the offer in the first place, he clearly felt comfortable enough to have Kisame in his home – before standing up while slinging Samehada over his shoulder.

Orochimaru stands with him, flush now down to a hardly visible tint, carefully falling into step with Kisame as he guides him with a few soft comments. It's not quite surprising to Kisame when they head out of the village slightly, following a road lined heavily with trees and bushes. There are houses out here, he realizes as the area thins out a bit more, houses and gardens and plenty of well maintained, shaded sitting areas. It would easily fool a civilian, or even a genin if someone were to wander across this place, but it doesn't fool a shinobi like Kisame.

The area is abandoned, devoid of any human chakra signatures, and he remembers overhearing Tsunade talk about how it wasn't healthy for Orochimaru to live alone the way he did. This had to be the snake summoner's clan lands, all but empty now that he was the only remaining survivor. "This way," murmurs Orochimaru, turning down a different road as he brushes his hand over a huge snake that was lounging on a stonewall. "I hope you don't mind the snakes, they usually keep to themselves."

"I don't mind at all," Kisame reassures, grinning a little.

Orochimaru nods slightly, stepping onto a porch and forming a single hand sign before he reaches for the door. Next thing Kisame knows he's looking around the living room as Orochimaru makes tea in the kitchen. There's a photograph on one of the many bookshelves of a man and a woman – Orochimaru's parents most likely – sitting on the porch together, smiling and leaning against each other with a small child just barely visible in the window. Orochimaru takes more after his mother, Kisame realizes, studying the woman's long black hair and pale skin before shifting his gaze to Orochimaru's father – who had spiky brown hair, average skin, and familiar vibrant golden eyes.

It's purely coincidence that he spots the other picture frame – tucked sideways between the books – but he carefully pulls it out to look at it. A photo of Orochimaru – young and smiling with a light in his eyes that Kisame hadn't seen before – in the middle of his parents, but also in front of an elderly gentleman. "So that's where that went," Orochimaru says from beside the swordsman, smirking when Kisame jumps a little. "I've been looking for that picture."

A little sheepishly, Kisame offers it to his soulmate in exchange for the tea in his hand. The Sannin's smirk changes to a soft smile, his thin fingers trailing across the frame of the picture as Kisame watches him. "Who is he?" he asks, trusting Orochimaru to understand.

"My grandfather," the smaller male whispers, his tone nostalgic, setting the photo next to the one of his parents. "He lived with us until he died. The Nidaime was great friends with him, it's because of that friendship that my clan was able to work out a way to get around needing immense amounts of chakra to do many A-rank or even S-rank jutsu."

Kisame watches Orochimaru, curious and intrigued by the gentle expression his soulmate wore before smiling when golden eyes flickered up to his face. Orochimaru flushed slightly, looking away and mumbling something about dinner as he made for the kitchen once again. This makes him chuckle, just faintly, before the swordsman decides to call out an offer to help. Nearly two hours later, Kisame finds himself watching Orochimaru in a way that was very nearly fond as the Sannin slept in one of the chairs in the living room.

Certainly, that couldn't be comfortable. The Hoshigaki tilts his head a little as he wipes a stray droplet of water off his cheek, finding it amusing that his soulmate had fallen asleep so quickly. He hadn't been in the shower that long, had he? Either way, he steps forward quietly, wondering if it would be better to just wake Orochimaru or carry him to his room. The latter would be easier, Kisame decides as he carefully slides his arms underneath the other's sleeping form, lifting him up against his chest. 

If he finds the small whine Orochimaru makes in his sleep cute, no one needed to know. He finds Orochimaru's room easily – it's the only other room with a bed in it – and it's even easier to lay the Sannin down before leaving without waking him. Kisame grins to himself – feeling smugly victorious – walking back down the hall towards his room, sitting on the mattress, as he gets ready to lie down.

Just as he's about to, he catches sight of his wrist and freezes as he reads the words written on his skin.

' _Thank you, Kisame, sleep well._ '

The swordsman smiles at the message, tracing his finger over the neatly looping hand – entirely unsurprised that he didn't see the message on Orochimaru's skin.


End file.
